Strategic Paradigms for Manufacturing Management (Spmm): Key Elements and Conceptual Model

Abstract

This paper proposes a new concept in Manufacturing Management: Strategic Paradigm for Manufacturing Management (SPMM). This new concept aims to deal with the 20th century manufacturing management paradigms in a comparative and integrated way. To accomplish this goal four key elements are identified: drivers (market conditions that require SPMM implementation); performance objectives (representing the operation’s strategic objectives that each SPMM gives priority to); principles (the SPMM fundamentals) and enablers (the tools, technologies and methods of each SPMM). The main contributions of this paper are: i) the presentation of a conceptual model that relates the SPMM to operation’s strategic objectives; and, ii) the possibility of allowing comparisons and analyses of the manufacturing paradigms, facilitating the study and practical application of these paradigms. The proposed model deals with strategic questions in the Production/Operations Management context in a very pragmatic way. To illustrate the proposed model five case examples are presented.